While some people like to take their pets to the nearest local dog-grooming salon, some cannot afford the luxury of doing so, as regards to budget, time, and convenience. Ideally, every dog deserves a pet owner who can take care of him/her, with the utmost attention to both the external and internal well-being of the animal.
Are you wondering how to get started with dog-grooming from home? Worry not, because below is a look at some of the easiest DIY grooming tips to practice on your dog at the comfort of your home:
Have the right grooming tools
You cannot bank on your hair grooming tools as the same ones you intend to use on your pet. Manufacturers have improved the value they offer to people by introducing so many dog-grooming tools so that you can identify specific ones appropriate for your pet.
Ensure you have a brush or a comb, scissors, and clippers. As the basic tools. For the hairbrush, choose a meta-pinned brush if your pet has a long coat, and a rubber-toothed brush if the dog’s coat is short. The scissors your use should be sharp at all times.
Shampooing your dog with high-quality shampoo
A dog tends to accumulate and hide a lot of dirt and mud on the hair strands, and if you do not tame this, it may result in ticks, dust mites, and other parasites hiding under the coat.
Ideally, the shampoo you choose for your dog should be high-quality, but more importantly, fashioned for a dog. You also want to ensure that the shampoo is free from harsh chemicals that might be too harsh on your dog, particularly if he/she has allergies to a specific product.
Tip: you can dilute the shampoo so that you have an easy time washing out the lather from your dog’s coat.
Wash your dog outside
While it is not cast on stone, as a rule, washing your dog outside has more benefits for you. The first apparent reason is that dogs are too messy, and you want to ensure that the spillage is kept at a minimum. You can alternatively lay towels on your floor to soak up the spills.
Another reason is, dogs tend to shed a lot of hair during baths. These hair strands can sum up in lumps and clog your drain. Alternatively, you can use steel wool, wrap it around your drain to trap the hairs from going through, until you are done washing your pet.
Tip: a dog also feels the temperature differences, and therefore, he/she can burn from hot water. If the water is too hot for you, then it may be too hot for your canine friend.
Brushing your dog’s hair helps to detangle
Like human hair, dog hair can also get tangled, with some strands being broken, matted and knotted with others. Ideally, mud and dirt are the leading causes of tangles in dogs. If you let the tangling stay for a long time, especially if your dog has long hair, then more of his/her hair will be damaged in the long run. Tangles also keep the dog looking very unkempt.
When you brush your dog, make sure the coat is dry, and run the brush through the strands as you would your hair. You can start with the hair tips to get rid of the tangles, as you move toward the skin.
Tip: be primarily focused on the hairs underside of your pet’s stomach, but careful and gentle because it is a sensitive region.
Be gentle with the matted areas
What you may not know is that severe matting comes very close to the skin of your dog, and if you are not careful when detangling them, then you may tear up the skin, causing an infection.
Be frequent in checking the matted areas, and for the sever parts, embrace caution. Watch out for any redness or swelling which might be a sign of infection.
Clippers are safer than scissors
When it is time to shorten your dog’s hair, dog hair clippers are much safer, not to mention faster, than scissors. The other good thing with clippers is that they come with guards. You can set the guards to different sizes for a trim in various lengths.
With clippers, the way to realize the best results is to work toward the direction of the hair growth and the grain of your dog’s mane. Be sure to keep your dog at a standstill position, or ask for some help so you can realize evenness and the best results.
Tip: if you are unsure of the guard size to use, start with the largest as you work your way down. Also, make sure you test the temperature of your blades because clippers tend to heat up with extended usage.
Know when to use your scissors
Sure dog clippers will do you a lot of services, but you cannot overlook the importance of scissors in the grooming process.
In your trimming process, you will need the scissors to help you tame the hairs around the legs, ears, and face of your dog.
Tip: it is safer to use the tips of your scissors when trimming on these areas because of their nature of sensitivity, and also for swiftness in pulling them away should your dog make any sudden movements.
Calm your dog before grooming
You may have trained your dog to obey commands, but when it comes to grooming, it is expected that your pet will get anxious. Ideally, some grooming can be done on a nervous dog, but when using scissors and clippers, you need him/her to be still.
The good news is that there are various products available in the market to help calm your dog, during grooming, for example, CBDs (Cannabidiol). You can help relieve the stress on your canine friend for that trimming session, without necessarily making him/her ‘high’ from the drugs.
If you trust yourself with the grooming of your canine friend, then you should be practicing all of these tips, and when it gets too overwhelming for you, consider visiting your nearest dog-grooming salon. Visit https://www.hairclippersclub.com/3-best-dog-clippers-for-shih-tzu/ to find some of the best dog clippers in the market.
